Well, kids, what shall we do this summer? We could go hunting for lost treasure, like Lara Croft; swing from tree to tree, like George of the Jungle; drive a bulldozer, like Bob the Builder; even fly to Neverland with Peter Pan. All these experiences are possible — and here comes the real surprise: not one of them requires you to plug anything into the wall or press play.

As the six-week school holidays wear on, and your children threaten to become surgically attached to the sofa, you’ll have to be canny to tempt them out into the real world. Enlisting the help of their heroes from television, video and computer games might just do the trick: in other words, you have to play them at their own game.

The Sunday Times pick of the best 20 family attractions in Britain and Ireland should give you all the inspiration you need.